Planck at MPA

MPA's Role in the Project

As a European mission, Planck is being planned and will be
operated by a consortium of groups and institutions across
Europe. The Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching
represents Germany in this consortium. Specifically, part of the
software system required for Planck data processing and
information exchange within the consortium was developed at
MPA, the development and use of a data simulation pipeline for Planck is coordinated by MPA.

Work at MPA related to the Planck mission commenced in 1998. A
team of scientists and software designers was set up, and the design
of a data-analysis software prototype was started in due course. This
team was supported by the General Administration of the Max-Planck
Society until late 1999, when Germany's space agency (DLR) started
to provide substantial support. This allows an appropriate
expansion of the team as the project progresses. Currently, the
team is working on two areas, i.e. the data-simulation pipeline,
the software infrastructure for data analysis.